Didn't Toronto fire Sam Mitchell?
I just think any offensive player would thrive in d'antoni's system. especially having watched the knicks the last two night (close defeats to the suns and lakers), i find this to be especially true about curry. he's a great passer and doesn't need a lot of space to get his jumper off, but he is also used to being a gunner. that would translate well to a d'antoni team but not necessarily to a team like utah or san antonio. then again, it's hard to judge how someone would play with others when he finally played with others who had legit talent (no offense bryant barr aka the lobster).... and nate robinson is AWESOME in mike's system.
I've also decided that the lakers should make a play at paul millsap after the season when lamar's contract expires. i'm not exactly sure what the lakers could actually offer millsap, given the extension the lakers just signed bynum to and the fact that they need to resign ariza, but millsap is awesome and is great in the third big man role. he's tough, he has a decent shot out to 14-18 feet and he tries to dunk on people. a lot.
i know he's got to be looking for a contract at least equal to that of ronny turiaf - who makes about 4M a year. after further review of the salary cap & the rules, the lakers could use the MLE to sign millsap (would this even be enough to get millsap?), then use their bird rights to re-sign trevor ariza. the lakers have 75M tied up next year already, assuming they were able to use most of the MLE on Millsap and resigned ariza to a 5-8M, that would bring that number up to about 85-86M. Further, that would bring their total to 11 players (fish, farmar, sasha, kobe, ariza, sun yue, millsap, gasol, bynum, walton and vladrad). so realistically, the lakers would need 2-3 more players, which would bring their payroll up around 90M... and this disregards kobe being able to opt-out and resign a bigger deal, but i doubt he'll wind up getting much more than the 23M he's due next year....
is there anyway the lakers can get out of vladrad's contract? hey vladrad, i heard there's a big snow storm up in tahoe... i'll cover your lift ticket...
also, dj augustin has been silencing his critics lately (namely me), especially last night when he tore apart d-rose and the bulls in an overtime victory.
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I have my doubts about Curry. He'll be a top-notch backup point guard, and I think he can start on a team with a big defensive backline (like San Antonio, where Duncan and whoever they have at the 5 each year have been covering for Tony Parker his whole career), but I just don't see him ever having a shot at an all-star team or anything close to it really. I don't see any upside with him. He's not going to get much bigger with his frame, which means he certainly isn't going to improve much defensively. Plus, I think he lacks the bigtime quickness that would enable him to get his shot off in the pro's like he is in college. Substitute a pro defender for these guys he is facing now, and I think he'll have a little problem scoring.
Look at his FG shooting in games against high-major d1 teams when he has an NBA-caliber guy guarding him.
2008
vs Purdue - 12-29
vs WVU - 9-27
2007
vs UNC - 8-22
vs Duke - 8-17
vs UCLA - 6-19
vs NC State - 10-24
vs Kansas - 4-16
Quick math - 57 for 152 = 37% = career backup
That being said, he could find his niche as a backup this gives a ton of energy and some scoring punch off the bench. I just wouldn't touch him with a top10 pick...
I think you're absolutely nuts if you don't think curry has the quickness to get his shot off in the pros. That's his strength. He doesn't need any space to get his shot off and he might have the quickest release I've ever seen in college. And you can't just discount his games against other teams. That's crazy. And he's like a 90% foul shooter who is incredibly clutch. Curry's young look also makes him seem smaller than he actually is. He's like 6'2 180. He'll be a better pro than jordan farmar.
Bickel, I want 500 words from you on Stephen Curry. But, keep in mind, his athleticism is really week. What separates Stephen Curry from Adam Morrison - a similarily special collegiate scorer who is limited athletically, and challenged defensively.
Just a quick response here, even though we've discussed this away from the blog.
I never said that the Lakers could get Millsap for part or all of the MLE, in fact, I even questioned if that would be enough money immediately after stating they should pursue him. All I'm trying to say is that the Lakers would be stupid not to call Millsap's agent and offer him the full MLE after this season and if Millsap's agent says no, there is no harm done.
Also, I would love to put together a Curry article, and in fact plan on doing so, but I've got a pretty heavy workload to finish over the next two days and a Michigan-Florida Gulf Coast game to rewatch later this evening, as well as a six-hour car drive up to the San Francisco area for Christmas (yes, in spite of the Jewishness...) on Tuesday night immediately after work... so combining that with the impending holidays, the Curry-Morrison comparison may not come until right around Jan. 1 2009.
That said, a power rankings may also be hard to come by before then as well...
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